Xiamen, together with Sanya and Kunming, topped the list of China's most popular domestic destinations during the 3-day May Day holiday despite the overcast and rainy weather. Tourists flocking to Xiamen and other cities were mostly made up of people from Shanghai and its surrounding regions, according to statistics released by the online travel agency Ctrip.
Statistics from Tongcheng Tourism and People.cn showed that Gulangyu was among the top ten most popular domestic scenic spots during the holiday. As of 18:00 on May 2nd, 172,000 people had visited Gulangyu Island, a slight decline of 9% compared with the the same period in 2015, Gulangyu Administrative Committee said.
The first two days saw the greatest passenger flow with tickets to the island sold out before noon. On April 30th and May 1st, the number of tourists exceeded 57,000 each day, and yesterday nearly 64,000 tourists made the ferry journey. Nonetheless, the number of tourists did not exceed the one-day maximum capacity, so the island remained in good order.
As for Xiamen's other famous scenic spots, Wanshi Botanical Garden received 39,239 visitors in total, and Hulishan Fortress 21,130 over the same period.
China has decided to extend its visa waiver policy to ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom starting from Feb 17.
Forty-one new port-of-entry duty-free shops have been established nationwide, with Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, Xiamen Wutong Passenger Wharf, and Xiamen International Cruise Center included on the list.
